Thirty-three years ago today, on Aug. 13, 1988, Willie Nelson set a new record in country music. It was on that date that the singer's Stardust album, released in 1978, officially logged 10 years on the Billboard Country Albums chart, making Nelson the first artist to achieve that longevity with a single record.

Stardust, which spent a total of 540 weeks on the charts, is a 10-track album of pop covers, including "Georgia on My Mind," "Unchained Melody," "September Song" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." The entire idea, Nelson admits, was not easily accepted by his record label, Columbia Records.

Willie Nelson Stardust album cover
Columbia
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“[It's] another one of those albums that they said, ‘This is not a good idea. It costs too much money first of all, and these old songs, nobody wants to hear ‘em anymore,’” Nelson recalls. "Again, they were wrong.”

Stardust, which to date has sold more than 5 million copies, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015. Nelson won Best Country Vocal Performance, Male, for the cover of "Georgia on My Mind" that is featured on the record, at the Grammy Awards.

This story was originally written by Gayle Thompson, and revised by Annie Zaleski.

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